Ali Salam Mahmood

April 17 2016

CIV 203-01

Dr. Tobin Hartnell

Justinian, the Two-Sided Emperor

Behind every story of a successful emperor there is a dark side of failure and

tyranny which is rarely exposed to the public. Justinian I, known commonly as Justinian

the Great, (527 – 565 CE) was an orthodox Byzantine emperor who is well known for

his great conquests to restore the old glory of the Roman Empire. During his rule, the

Byzantine Empire gained back the Rome and all the Italian peninsula, southern Spain,

and the southern Mediterranean coast in modern day Tunisia and Libya. The one who

recorded most of his works was Procopius of Caesarea, but it is interesting that the same

author had another book called The Secret History, where he recorded all the downsides of

Justinian's rule. Despite the known justice and laws of Justinian, Procopius was so

focused on illustrating him as a very bad king, even if doing so lessened the credibility of

his work.

Justinian has written his name in history with golden letters in the eyes of lawmen

thanks to his famous laws. Corpus Juris Civilis, also known as the Body of Civil Law is the

set of all legislations he made through his rule. He was one of the firsts to define

freedom as "is a man’s natural power of doing what he pleases, so far as he is not

prevented by force or law" (Institutes, Book I Title III); amazingly this resembles the
modern definitions of freedom. Justinian set forth the concept of Manumission, which is

giving freedom to a slave, as a rightful thing for the master to free his slave at any time

but by certain terms. He describes slavery and manumission as unnatural laws but were

introduced to normal life by the law of nations, and it is like a necessary evil brought to

life (Institutes Book I Title V). Justinian took good care of delicts and crimes as well, for

it is an essential part in any state; he defines theft as an abuse in the possession of a

property. The penalty of theft differs depending from three to four times the value of the

stolen property whether the thief was a slave or a freeman (Institutes Book IV Title I).

Justinian's insisting on making a civil constitution with solid laws that stood for years

after him came along his desire to restore the old Roman glory. He wanted to make

himself as the great king who restored the land and the order, and in the eyes of many he

is indeed.

Freedom and delicts are only two parts of his institutes. The laws of Justinian

covered almost every aspect in daily life. However those two as will be seen were two

important subjects which Procopius accused him of abusing.

In his secret history, Procopius illustrates Justinian as a fascist and a tyrant who

abused many of the laws he issued. The Secret History was written during Justinian's life

but published after his death, because Procopius feared the deadly fate he would face if

the emperor knew about this book. In terms of justice which the emperor heavily

emphasized on, Procopius tells that Justinian accused many people with crimes they

never committed only to have their property. Judiciary was corrupted in his rule, for it

was used by the close relatives of Justinian for their own benefit, also many criminals

managed to escape their judgment; many wanted unrightfully to take the property of

their neighbors found a way to do so, all thanks to the corrupt system as Procopius

claims. Justinian was also portrayed as a fascist thief who only sought his benefit. As
Procopius explain "Indeed, as soon as this man laid hold of the Government of his

uncle, he straightway was eager to squander the public funds with complete recklessness,

seeing he had become master of them" (Procopius Ch. VIII). Finally, he shows Justinian

as a money squanderer for two reasons mainly, first is that he kept giving frequently large

sums to the Huns who themselves never satiated from the Roman money; not only the

Huns were hungry for money but all barbarians in the north, west, east, and south of the

empire were generously and unrightfully given money by Justinian (Procopius Ch. 19).

Procopius also claims that he bankrupted the empire, with his many senseless buildings

on the sea which he saw as a waste of money. Hagia Sophia was one of the significant

buildings Justinian built, Procopius himself describes it like a majestic artifact "So the

church has become a spectacle of marvelous beauty, overwhelming to those who see it,

but to those who know it by hearsay altogether incredible" (Buildings, Ch. I). Perhaps

Procopius wanted to mention the church with the things that Justinian wasted money on,

but maybe the building even overwhelmed him so he could allow himself to call it a

waste or a senseless building.

The reason to doubt the credibility of the Secret History is his insistence to

portray Justinian and his wife Theodora as devils. Especially Theodora, who he wrote

much about her in his book, perhaps more than Justinian, illustrating her as a fiend, a

dictator, and a trickster. This personal focus on Justinian and the empress is a sign of

bias, this perhaps came from the fact the Italian Procopius did not accept the idea of

being ruled by a non-Italian king. Not to mention that some of it may sound like a

history fiction rather than facts and it is much less credible than his other works.

Despite the obvious exaggeration, it can never be said that all of the Secret

History is false. The simplest reason is that if someone wants to understand the situation

he must read from all accounts, surly every account in considered bias but only after long
research the truth may be revealed. Finally, it must be not forgotten that history is

written by the victor, and the truth is told by the brave; so as long as there is no super

reason that might make Procopius write a whole book of fiction to discredit Justinian,

the Secret History must not be ignored.

 Works Cited

1- Procopius, and H. B. Dewing. The Anecdota, Or, Secret History. Cambridge,

MA: Harvard UP, 1960. LacusCurtius • Procopius — The Secret History. Bill

Thayer, 2016. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.

2- JUSTINIAN, INSTITUTES (n.d.): n. pag. Trans. J.B Moley. Ames

Foundation. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.

3- "Lacuscurtius • Procopius — Buildings". Penelope.uchicago.edu. N.p., 2016.

Web. 19 Apr. 2016.